Indy Power Rankings for the Week of December 22nd, 2014

1. Michael Elgin (@MichaelElgin25)-What a year for Michael Elgin. Last year’s #1 in the IPR 100 in many ways has had an even more successful 2014 than he did in 2013. Certainly the ROH World Title win (despite the loss of it later) to Jay Briscoe would be one of the biggest accomplishments of his career. As 2014 winds down and Elgin completes his final dates on the indies, he wrapped it up with a bang on the last eligible week of this year’s IPR 100. With wins vs. Corporal Robinson, BJ Whitmer, and Reed Bentley, he not only won the IWA Mid-South Revolution: Strong Style Tournament ’14, he swept the votes of the official voters as the clear cut #1 this week. If this is truly it for him on the indies, it has been one hell of a run. He finishes the year with six #1 rankings.

2. Drew Galloway (@TheDrewMcIntyre)-The EVOLVE & ICW Champion is truly a global star. Not just because he’s a former WWE superstar, but because he is winning titles all over the world. He is the NEW Danish PW Champion added more gold to his collection after defeating Michael Flynne and Chaos in a Triple Threat Match on 12/20 to win the title and also retain the ICW Title. He then beat Lewis Girvan at ICW on 12/21 to run his win streak to 8 straight matches. #1 last week. #2 this week. He truly finished 2014 about as strong as anyone possibly could. Tune in on 12/29, 12/30, and 12/31 to find out where he ended up in the 2014 IPR 100!

3. Kongo Kong (@RealKongoKong)-“The Monsta” continued his dominance of IWA Mid-South as he took his title there and defeated John Wayne Murdoch yet again to retain the title. This is his 3rd straight #3 ranking as the big man refuses to lose. He has been on fire to end the year and has continued to pour it on down the stretch to cement his place in the IPR 100. With big challenges coming up in early 2015, can he keep this momentum going? For the time being, where will he end up in the IPR 100? Tune in to the IPR 100 Reveal shows to find out! Links are at the bottom. He joins us on 12/31 to talk about his 2014 and 2015 going forward.

4. Reed Bentley (@TheReedBentley)-It was a bittersweet weekend for Reed “By God” Bentley as he got all the way to the finals of the IWA Mid-South Revolution: Strong Style Tournament after beating Louis Lyndon and Shane Mercer, only to lose to this week’s eventual #1 Michael Elgin in the finals. Truly it was a fantastic contest, but what also helped Bentley was his tag team victory over multiple time #1 Team IOU on 12/20 at CCW. Did he do enough to make the IPR 100? If so, how high is his ranking? You’ll have to tune into the IPR 100 Reveal Shows to find out! Be the first to know where your favorites placed!

5. Joey Janela (@JANELABABY)-“The Bad Boy” continued his impressive run at the end of the year as he defeated CZW Wired TV Champion Joe Gacy by DQ at CZW Dojo Wars on 12/17 and then teamed with Anthony Gangone to defeat The Highspot Heroes and Herbal Affairs (Jimi Blaze & Rembrandt Lewis) and The Safari Zone (Andy Lee Ray & Panda Man) on 12/19 in a #1 Contenders Match at HOG. He’ll join us on 12/29 for the IPR 100 Reveal. Where did he place? Well…you guessed it…tune in to find out!

6. Amazing Red (@AmazingRed1)-1/2 of the HOG Tag Team Champions and PWS Suicidal Six Way Champion ended 2014 in solid fashion as he teamed with Crimson to defeat former 8 Time #1’s Juicy Product on 12/19 and then beat Brian XL, Shynron, Ricochet, Tony Nese, & Tracy Smothers on 12/20 in a 6-Way Match to retain his PWS Title. This is his first time in the Top 10 and while it may not be enough to springboard him into the IPR 100 for this year, it was still a very good way to finish off 2014. We hope to see more of Red in 2015 as his career has really experienced a nice reboot!

7. El Ligero (@Ligero1)-The former #1 did his best to finish off 2014 in the best way possible as he swept the weekend with wins vs. Dan James at NGW and then defeated Mark Andrews at TCW. The GPW and BPW Champion most certainly improved his stock in the IPR 100, but where will he end up? With a lot of UK talent doing their best to prove that they deserve to be mentioned as some of the best in the world, can Ligero help solidify that claim? RSVP, tune in, and find out!

8. Acid Haze-A first ranking for this Australian talent as The Snake Pit Friday Night Fights Champion defeated Doc Kinkaid at Snakepit on 12/19, then teamed with Bryan Lawson on 12/20 to defeat Jake Viper & Joey Triton, then won a Rumble Match the same night to go 3-0 for the week. Much like Amazing Red, while this won’t be enough to slip him into the IPR 100 for 2014, it was still an impressive way to end 2014. If he can build on this, you’ll be seeing more of him in the Indy Power Rankings in 2015. Can’t wait! #4 in the online poll with 25 votes.

9. Dru Skillz (@DruSkillz)-The former 2 time People’s Champ had a strong showing in the poll again this week and among the official voters. He does drop one spot from last week, but continued his winning ways after a win vs. Joey Owens to retain his Smashmouth Heavyweight Title. His late success may have springboarded him into the IPR 100. Will he make the cut? There’s only one way to find out! Tune in on 12/29, 12/30, and 12/31! #3 in the online poll with 42 votes.

10. Taka Michinoku (@takam777)-The former WWF Light Heavyweight Champion teamed with Taichi and El Desperado in New Japan on 12/15 to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask #4 and Sho Tanaka, then teamed with Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka on 12/19 to defeat Kazushi Sakuraba, Toru Yano and YOSHI-HASHI, then teamed with Taichi and Minoru Suzuki on 12/20 to defeat Kazushi Sakuraba, YOSHI-HASHI and Jado, then teamed with Yuji Hino and Susano KID in Kaientai Dojo on 12/21 to defeat Kengo Mashimo, Tank Nagai and G and go 4-0 for the week. Impressive week for one of the most talented wrestlers in the world as he gains his first ranking on the last eligible week of 2014. Congrats to Taka!

1st Honorable Mention. Dave Crist-Despite a very impressive week, it was his loss of the JCW Tag Team Titles that ultimately cost him a spot in the Top 10 this week.

2nd Honorable Mention. Dustin Starr-Despite a 3-0 weekend, he BARELY misses out on the Top 10 this week, perhaps due to a lot of people being unfamiliar with him…as of right now that is.

3rd Honorable Mention. Adam Revolver-The OVW Heavyweight Champion JUST missed out on the Top 10 this week despite an impressive run to end the eligible portion of 2014.

Co-People’s Champ. Eddy Young-There were 83 “other votes” this week on the poll. Most of them would likely be attributed to Eddy Young, but without clear following of the rules by the fan voters (they didn’t send us who they were voting for) it was difficult to know for sure. Regardless, a 2-0 week gets Eddy Young his 3rd share of a People’s Champ award.